KIN 122 SPORT MENTAL TRAINING MIDTERM 2

Sport mental training takes an to help athletes understand how their minds work in relation to their support experience

educational approach (it is a teaching role)

Sport PSYCHOLOGY

Takes a clinical approach while understanding pathologies that may be influencing athletic experience.

Sport Mental Training

Stays primarily within the sport experience of the athlete.

Difference between sport mental training and sport psychology.

SMT: Stays primarily within the sport experience of the athlete.

SP: addresses both the life and sport experiences of the athlete.

Athletes can be viewed like a table with four legs. EACH LEF REPRESENTS A KEY FEATURE OF ATHLETE DEVELOPMENT. The four legs represent what?

mental, physical, tactical and technical development.

The higher up the sport ladder an athlete climbs…..

the more similar all the competitors become- everyone is physically, tactically, and technically proficient.

Because of the last flashcard this means that sport mental training can become….

become the differentiating factor in high-performance sport.

In the brain, what 4 things are linked together?

Beliefs, thoughts, feelings, and actions

What are Beliefs, thoughts, feelings, and actions a product of?

Product of neural communication (nerve cells talking to each other)

Can the brain harbour two conscious thoughts simultaneously ?

No! You’re brain can’t handle two things at the same time.

WHAT IS THE PROCESS CALLED to where the brain has the capacity to rewire itself based upon learning that is taking place?

neuroplasticity.

What does NEGATIVE OUTCOME THINKING PRODUCE?

Negative outcome thinking generates performance anxiety - something that is not helpful for an athlete.

What does Performance anxiety cause?

performance-compromising challenges like muscle tightness, problems with distraction control, and a tendency to compete at a pace slightly faster than one is trained to compete. 

Does performance anxiety exist in the world of positive thought processes?

No

Positice process thinking

Refers to things in athletes’ sport experiences over which they have control.

if athletes think positive process thoughts (things they have control of) - instead of negative outcome thoughts

their performance anxiety will go down, and their performance will go up.

The new neutral pathways (neuroplasticity) are developing because

starting to make negative outcome thoughts the trigger for positive process thoughts, reduces the frequency of the negative outcome thoughts being the trigger for performance anxiety.

This leads too….

Eventually the positive process thoughts become the dominant neural pathways for the athletes and the negative outcome thoughts become weaker and less prevalent.

How does this quote describe about sport mental training?

”We can’t control all the waves life sends us, but we can learn how to surf.”

Sport mental training doesn’t change the realities of high-performance sport, but what it does do is potentially strengthen mental abilities that enable athletes to increase the probability their sport experience will be positive and affirming as opposed to negative and damaging. 

Academic Knowledge

Knowledge you GAINED because someone told you something.

Experimental Knowledge

Knowledge you GAINED because of an experience you had.

Which knowledge should you provide to athletes within sport mental training?

try to help the athletes integrate this information into experiential knowledge as soon as possible. Doing this allows the information to start favorably affecting the athletes’ sport experiences more efficiently. 

How to INHANCE THE INTEGRATION PROCESS?

 as soon as possible, encourage the athletes to take the information out for a “test drive” in their sport experience (practice putting the information into action). 

Our brain is like a computer while out belief system is like the ….

computer’s software

What does our belief system shape?

Our thoughts, which shapes our feelings and actions.

What are the THREE BROAD categories Athlete Goals can be divided into?

OUTCOME GOALS , PROCESS GOALS, AND MASTERY GOALS.

-It is important for an athlete to have GOALS IN EACH CATEGORY.

OUTCOME GOALS

-Are things an athlete is trying to achieve that are not completely within their control but contribute to their motivation.

(ex. make a team, win a championship)

Outcome goals provide athletes with their fuel.

Mastery Goals

-Involve an athlete pursuing their BEST SELF in their sport.

-Provide an athlete with their FOUNDATION and sustain them through the highs and lows of their sport experience. 

Process Goals

-Are things the athlete always has control of. 

-Focusing on process goals, and having a mastery goal as their foundation, maximizes an athlete’s probability of achieving the outcome goals they want to achieve.

The negative consequences that trigger performance anxiety live in the world of

outcome goals

The negative consequences that trigger performance anxiety do not live in the world of

process goals and mastery goals

When athletes focus on process goals and have mastery goals as their foundation, their level of performance anxiety

DROPS SIGNIFICANTLY